The problem with AI generated CP is that if they're legal, it opens a new line of defense for actual CP. You would need to prove the content is not AI to convince real abusers. This is why it can't be made legal, it needs to be prosecuted like real CP to be sure to convict actual abusers.

As long as they don’t do it on real humans nobody is hurt.

Living out the fantasy of having sex with children (or other harmful sexual practices and fantasies) wit AI or alike can strengthen the wish to actual do it in RL. It can weaken the strength to abstain. If you constantly have fantasies where for example "the child AI wanted it too" then it can desensitize you and making it harder and harder to push that thought aside when in a tempting situation. Instead of replacing the real thing with a fantasy you are preparing for the real thing. Some pedophiles already interpret children's behavior as sexual that isn't at all, but the AI might be told to act in that way and strengthen these beliefs.

This is still something that is and has to be studied more to fully understand it. Of course this is difficult because of the stigma. There might be differences between people who only are attracted to children and ones that are attracted to adults and children and there is just not enough data yet, but even the communities in which pedophiles who do not act on their attraction discuss coping strategies this is heavily discussed and controversial.

If you are interested in the subject a bit more, this is a start: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8419289/

As a man who was descending to a dark place when I was a teen, I can say this with confidence:

This kind of content, like CP or r*pe-y stuff, even if clearly not real and only a fantasy, feeds these desires, and makes them grow. In time, if you continue to foster it, they will bleed into real life, and then it becomes a real problem. That's why this kind of stuff is scary.

Thankfully, I was able to spot this pattern before it became a problem, that is a dangerous slippery slope

Theres people arguing here that AI gened CP May not be that bad at all cus its fictional.

I wanna blow my actual fucking head off, genuinely. This ain't even the realm of lolicon anymore. Just straight up, realistic cheese pizza.

If that's the case then sharing of all that AI Taylor swift porn should be fine too cus its fictional. It may be of a real and public figure, but it's not REALLY her nudes!! Idk man- eughhhhhhh, all this rubs me the wrong way, no pun intended

Imagine just looking at an online AI gallery and seeing literal AI CP, just out there, public, free to use. It gives me the impression that people only care about child abuse or CP once it involves a real child, not that its general existence is an absolute endangerment to real children if they happen to get caught in the crossfire; that allowing people to fester that content as a "Coping mechanism" instead of getting help may just normalize shit like this or desensitize people to that kinda content. Like imagine stumbling upon that shit and seeing porn AI gened porn of someone who looks exactly like you, adult or child. Even worse if that person who made it knows you. Again- not real art, AI. Idk man- again it just all make me feel sick and queasy...

It's a subset of Rule 34.